The developer of the site proposed for asylum seekers in Coolock in Dublin has spoken out about the garda response to the public disorder there in July.
The former Crown Paints site has been at the centre of anti-immigration demonstrations, which spilled over into violence on July 15. Paul Collins's team on the site came under siege that day, as masked men rampaged through the site for almost an hour while staff repeatedly made calls to gardaí looking for help.
The disturbances inside the complex were filmed by RTÉ Investigates.
Mr Collins, who is leasing the site, has an agreement with the State to provide accommodation for 574 asylum applicants there, criticised the policing response to issues related to the site.
"I don't feel I'm being supported. I don't feel the State has my back," he told RTÉ Investigates.
The site remains idle due to protests which have been on-going since February.
The protests saw a makeshift camp set up at the entrance to the site in February, which remained in place and grew over subsequent months.
"I believe that the people that are actually inside - in the front of the Coolock site - are breaking the law," he said during the filming of the documentary.
"I don't understand in the sense of, you know, the hands on, the hands-off approach, I don’t understand, is there a law or is there not?"
The camp was eventually cleared during a major Garda operation in mid-July, which sparked significant public disorder. In the interim period, Mr Collins says, staff were threatened and the contents of the buildings of the site damaged by intruders.
Read more: Inside the Protests: Cameras capture moment Coolock site attacked
A team of security and maintenance staff from Mr Collins’s company entered with him on the morning of 15 July. All soon found themselves essentially besieged, and under threat as the situation grew volatile.
After the clearance operation, a visible Garda presence dwindled around the site. A petrol bomb was thrown over the wall towards where Mr Collins’s staff were standing, a man entered the site and threatened to stab a security guard. Separately, a large digger was set on fire.
Another security guard was seriously injured when he was struck by a timber pole thrown in his direction by people who had entered the site.
During the morning, Mr Collins’s team made more than 20 calls to the guards from inside the site looking for help, and the threats and danger grew.
The Garda public order unit arrived back at the scene at approximately 1pm. Significant disorder continued into that evening.
Speaking on that day, inside the site, he told RTÉ Investigates, "it's hard to listen to them saying - to your staff and even to myself - you know, 'we'll follow you home’ and, you know, ‘up here in Coolock, we shoot people'."
20 hours after he first entered the site, Paul Collins finally felt it was safe enough to try to leave. In the days after, he and his family left Ireland due to fears about their safety.
His comments were made during the filming of a major RTÉ Investigates documentary to be aired on RTÉ One tonight. It looks inside the protests and unrest that has swept Ireland, which reached a boiling point this summer at the Coolock site.
Watch: Cameras capture how violence developed at the Coolock site
Asked about the policing of Coolock disorder this afternoon, in advance of tonight’s broadcast, Minister for Justice Helen McEntee said it was her view that Gardaí had responded appropriately "in very, very difficult circumstances."
She said there had been significant numbers of public order units deployed, as well as plain-clothed Gardaí, to what was "a very difficult and challenging environment."
She said she trusted the response of the Garda Commissioner.
In a statement to RTÉ Investigates, An Garda Síochána said the policing operation undertaken in Coolock was "in response to evolving events such as public disorder, [and] centred on a graduated approach and a strong tradition of policing by consent.
"As per standard, the public order operation in Coolock had an operational command structure in place and was overseen by highly experienced senior officers with advice provided by Gardaí highly trained and experienced in public order policing."
Over 200 members of An Garda Síochána were deployed in the operation, including frontline uniformed Gardaí, supported by Public Order Gardaí."
It said 34 people have been arrested by Gardaí in relation to the events of 15 July, 26 have since been charged and are now before the courts.
"An Garda Síochána also seized a number of incendiary devices following searches in the local area. Such devices could have resulted in significant damage to individuals and local property," a statement said.
"The Garda investigation into all of the circumstances of the Violent Disorder and Public Order events that occurred on Monday 15th July 2024 in Coolock, Dublin 17 is continuing."
Gardaí said that three members were injured on the day.
The Minister for Justice has said that the plans for accommodation of migrants at the Coolock site will still go ahead.
